Microsoft employees will retain free access to Xbox Game Pass Ultimate after complaints

Microsoft was planning to remove the free Xbox Game Pass Ultimate feature for most of its 238,000 employees in January, but the company is now reversing that decision following employee complaints. the edge It was reported yesterday that Microsoft employees have voiced their objections to the removal of Xbox Game Pass Ultimate in 2024, with Xbox head Phil Spencer personally weighing in on the situation.

Spencer has now confirmed that the decision will be reversed and that Microsoft employees will retain the benefits of Xbox Game Pass Ultimate. Here’s Spencer’s full message to Microsoft employees on the company’s internal Viva platform:

After studying this further with the team, I just want to reiterate that there will be no change to Game Pass availability in 2024. If you have access to the Game Pass offering today, you will continue to have access. I appreciate you taking the time to get up to speed and apologize for the questions and confusion I caused. Thank you for supporting Xbox.

This cancellation means that Microsoft employees will still have free access to Xbox Game Pass Ultimate, which they have had since the subscription option launched in 2019. Microsoft employees have long enjoyed access to Xbox subscriptions for free, with Xbox Live Gold previously available as a return Benefiting employees for years.

It’s not immediately clear why Microsoft initially decided to remove the feature, but it appears to have been a benefits/HR decision since Spencer was unaware of its planning and moved quickly to reverse the change.